1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to steam ovens and, more particularly, to a steam oven having a steam distributing unit that is installed in a cabinet of the steam oven to evenly distribute steam generated by a steam generator into all areas in a cooking cavity, which is defined in the cabinet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, to cook foods, the foods may be: roasted with heat, such as in a gas oven; steamed by water vapor, such as in a steaming vessel; or boiled with water, such as in a cooking vessel. Also, there are methods to cook foods using microwaves, far infrared rays, and steam, etc.
When cooking using steam, steam is discharged from a steam generator into a cooking cavity to cook food in the cooking cavity. Accordingly, when cooking using steam, the food is not burnt, and controlling a temperature and a volume of the discharged steam easily controls a cooking temperature. Also, because oxidation of the food does not occur, cooking using steam has an advantage in that the cooked food has a better taste.
But in most conventional steam ovens, a steam distributing unit to distribute the steam into the cooking cavity is not provided on a steam feed unit that feeds the steam from the steam generator into the cooking cavity. Even in case of conventional steam ovens having a steam distributing unit on the steam feed unit, the steam distributing unit only allows the steam to be discharged into the cooking cavity in one direction, and in a manner of a straight flow.
Accordingly, when cooking large-sized food, the conventional steam ovens are problematic in that only a part of the food is effectively heated by the steam directly discharged onto the part of the food, but other parts of the food are not effectively heated because the steam is not discharged onto those parts of the food. When cooking small-sized food, the conventional steam ovens are problematic in that a heating ability of the steam oven varies according to a position at which the food is placed. Particularly, when cooking foods in the cooking cavity, in which a plurality of racks are installed, the heating ability of the steam oven varies according to positions of the foods, which are placed on the racks in the cooking cavity.